You would open your Bibles again
to Isaiah chapter 21. The title of the message this
evening is What the Watchman Declares. I'd like to look at
this whole chapter in light of the watchman that we read of
in verse 6. For thus hath the Lord said unto
me, Go and set a watchman. Let him declare what he seeth. What does the watchman see? What
does he declare? Now, you know, in these days,
if they would put a watchman in towers on the walls of the
city to watch for danger and things, they'd watch to see what
was coming. They could warn people to danger before it got there.
And they'd watch all night. They'd tell people, I read this,
I don't know how they did it, but they told people what time
it was. Maybe they'd let them know some news or whatever was
going on in the city. And that watchman is a picture
of God's preacher. God's preacher is a watchman.
We read that in Open the Service in Hebrews 13. God's preacher
is a watchman who watches for your soul. Well, what does Scripture
tell us that the job of the watchman is? I spent some time looking
at this, and this is interesting. I want you to turn first to 1
Samuel chapter 14. There are several times, and
this is the first time in Scripture the word watchman is used. In
1 Samuel chapter 14. The job of a watchman, of God's
watchman, is to watch for news of the king's son in battle.
1 Samuel 14, verse 16. And that first slaughter which
Jonathan, this is the son of Saul, the son of King Saul, and
that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was
about twenty men within, as it were, a half acre of land. which
a yoke of oxen might plow. And there was trembling in the
host, in the field, and among all the people, the garrison,
and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked. So it was
a very great quaking, or a very great trembling. And the watchmen
of Saul, and Gibeah, and Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude
melted away, and they went on beating down one another. Then
said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and
see who is gone from us. And when they numbered, behold,
Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there." That's the first
time we read about watchmen and they're watching what happened
in the battle. What happened to the king's son?
We won't turn and read it. You're very familiar with this
story. In 2 Samuel 18, David set up a watchman and he kept
waiting for that watchman to give him news. What was David
waiting on? What happened to his son in battle?
What happened to that rebellious son, Absalom, in battle? That
watchman was set up watching for those runners who would come
tell him. And that's the job of God's preachers. To watch
for God's Son. To tell God's people the news
of God's Son in battle. God's Son won the battle by dying
and putting away the sin of His people. Christ has won the battle
over every enemy. And Christ has secured the victory
by himself. Now you come, you come to him
and you enjoy the fruits of his victory. Christ has won the victory
over sin and death and hell. And he's coming again. He is
the mighty victor. Secondly, look in 2 Kings chapter
9. The second job of the watchman
is to watch for peace. The job of God's watchman is
to watch for peace in Christ and tell God's people where it's
found. 2 Kings 9 verse 16. So Jehu rode in a chariot and
went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there, and Ahaziah king of Judah
was come down to see Joram. And there stood a watchman on
the tower of Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as
he came. And he said, I see a company. And Joram said, take a horseman
and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? So there
went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the
king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou
to do with peace? Turn thee behind me. And the
watchman told, saying the messenger came to him, but he cometh not
again. Then he sent out a second on
horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king,
Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace?
Turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying,
He came even unto them, and cometh not again. And the driving is
like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he driveth
furiously." The watchman in this case said there's no peace there. There's no peace. The watchman
told exactly what he saw. He didn't try to gloss it over
and protect people's feelings or try to make them feel better.
He said there's no peace there. This madman's coming, driving
furiously. And that's the job of God's preachers,
to point out where peace is and where peace is not. Peace with
God is not found in anything that we do. It's not found in
us keeping the law. It's not found in us doing as
good as we can, trying to have our good outweigh our bad. It's
impossible for a son of Adam to make peace with God. It can't
be done, so don't try it. There's no peace in anything
this flesh will ever do. But there is peace in Christ.
Now that's where peace is not. Let me tell you again where peace
is found. Peace is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He made peace
with God through the blood of His cross. So you come to Him
and you beg God for mercy based upon the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will have peace with God. That's the job of God's
preachers is to tell us where peace is found and where it's
not found. Now look at Song of Solomon chapter 3. Thirdly, the
job of God's watchman is to tell the elect where Christ our love
is, where Christ can be found. Song of Solomon 3 verse 1. By night on my bed I sought him
whom my soul loveth. but I found him not. I will rise
now, and go about the city and the streets, and in the broad
ways. I will seek him whom my soul
loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. The watchman that go about the
city found me, to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a little that I passed from then, but I found him whom
my soul loveth, and I held him, and I would not let him go."
Now these watchmen must have told her what direction she should
go because shortly after she left the watchmen, she found
the Lord who she loves. And that's the job of God's preacher,
to set forth Christ as he is in his glory so that people will
see him and love him as he is. The job of the preacher is to
tell the bride of Christ where Christ is found and then tell
her, you go to him. Fourthly, look in Jeremiah chapter
31. The job of God's preachers is
to command all men to come to Christ. Jeremiah 31 and verse 6. For there shall be a day that
the watchman upon the Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye and let us
go up to Zion. unto the Lord our God. This is
the command to all men. Arise ye. Don't stay where you're
at. Repent of your sins. Arise and
come to Christ. Let's go to Him together. Well,
who's going to believe this message? Who's going to hear this message
and believe it and come to Christ? Well, God's elect. That's who.
All those that the Holy Spirit gives ears to hear, they will
come to Christ. Look in verse 7. For thus saith
the Lord, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the
chief of the nations. Publish ye, praise ye, and say,
O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I
will bring them from the north country, and gather them from
the coast of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame,
the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together,
a great company shall return thither." Why are they going
to return thither? Because God said, I'll bring All those that
the Holy Spirit brings, they're going to come to Christ. And
fifthly, look in Ezekiel chapter three, the message, the job of
God's preacher, his watchman, is to bring God's message. We're
not at liberty to change God's message. We're not at liberty
to interpret it our own way. We're not at liberty to change
it to try to fit the times. The job of God's watchman is
to bring God's message. Look at Ezekiel 3, verse 4. And
he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of
Israel, and speak what? My words unto them. Now look
down at verse 17. Son of man, I have made thee
a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word
at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the
wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning,
nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save
his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but
his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked,
and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall
die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul, you
fulfilled your obligation." Verse 20, again, when a righteous man
to turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay
a stumbling block before him, he shall die, because thou hast
not given him warning. He shall die in his sin, and
his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered,
but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless,
if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and
he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned. Also
thou hast delivered thy soul." See what he's saying there? The
job of God's watchman is to deliver God's message. And if not, the
blood of the people is on your hands. God's message is a message
of judgment against sin. God will punish all sin with
eternal damnation. And if you do not repent of your
sin and don't turn to Christ and flee to Him, you will be
damned. But if you repent and you beg God for mercy for Christ's
sake and you trust in Christ alone to save You trust in Christ
alone to make you righteous. You will be saved. That's God's
message. That's the message that's the
job of the watchman. Now, back in our text, what does
the watchman see? What is it that I see in this
chapter? What is it I see in the world
that we live in today? Well, it's four things. The first
thing I see is this. This world is a desert. There's
no life in it. There's nothing in it to support
any spiritual life. Verse 1, Isaiah 21. The burden of the desert of the
sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it cometh from
the desert, from a terrible land. This world is a dry, barren place. It's that way because of sin.
There's no spiritual life in this world. All this world is
is dry, dead sand. Can't grow anything in it. And
when I say the world, I mean not just all the world, I mean
all men of the world, but I mean us, all of us right here. By
nature, there's no spiritual life in us. There's not even
a moisture of life. There's no hope of producing
any spiritual life by ourselves. The land, and this includes us,
our heart, is terrible because men by nature are terrible. They're
totally depraved. They're dead in trespasses and
sin. Now, I know you think you might
see some water. You know, we use the phrase, oh, he's a good
man. She's a good woman. We've got some folks that live
in our neighborhood. They're fine people, good neighbors.
You might think you see some water. You might think you see
some seas, but they're just a mirage that's made up by the sinful
imagination of man. There is no goodness in any man,
any woman, any boy, or any girl. None. What we call goodness is
just the restraining hand of God keeping them from doing what
they do by nature. And there's no escaping the death
in this desert. Scripture here talks about a
dry south wind just constantly blowing an irresistible force
that's constant, that's harsh, that's blowing hot air, that's
blowing sand, all this sand blastness, and it will drive us to death. Well, that's a pretty bleak outlook,
Frank. Is that all you see? No, that's
not all I see. I also see in that desert the
remedy. I see the Lord Jesus Christ.
I see death in the desert, but I see Christ in His life. And
you know eternal life, spiritual life is His to give. We saw that
Sunday morning, John 17, that the Father has given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given Him. Look at verse 14. The inhabitants
of the land of Timah brought water to him that was thirsty.
They prevented with their bread him that fled. Christ is that
water of life. We live in a desert land. It's
dry and it's barren. There's no life in it. But Christ
is the water of life. He gives life and he sustains
the life of his elect. And Christ is that bread, the
bread of life that his people feed upon. So the cry of the
watchman is quit trying to scratch out some sort of meager existence
in the desert sands and come to Christ and have abundant life
in him. Quit drinking the sand because
you see a mirage and come to Christ and drink of the water
of life deeply and freely. You come to Christ. Get out of
the desert and come to Christ and you will receive a well of
water in your soul that springs up into everlasting life so that
you will never thirst again. Quit trying to scratch out some
sort of crop in that dry desert sand and come to Christ. and feed in the green, lush pastures
of His Word. I see death by sin in the world.
In this desert, all I see is death. But you know what else
I see? I see a harvest of good crops.
In verse 10, O my threshing and the corn of my floor, that which
I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared
unto you. You know who I'm looking at? God's threshing. God's corn. There's a harvest in the midst
of this desert land. It's God's people. And God says
the preacher calls them my corn, but he calls them mine because
they're God's. God says this is my corn. This is my harvest. They're my elect. These are all
for whom my son died. And you can bet you they're precious
to the Lord. They are precious to him. He's
going to take care of them. Not one kernel is going to be
lost. Well, why are they on the threshing floor? Why are they
on the threshing floor of trial and trouble and pain to remove
the chaff? They've got to go to the threshing
floor so the chaff is removed. And once the chaff is removed,
the Lord's going to gather all the corn to Himself. So you come
to Christ. Get out of the desert and come
to Christ. And depend on Him to save you
and bring you all the way home. You count on Him to do it all. The second thing I see in our
text, I see this in the world in which we live. I see sin deceiving
people and killing them. Verse 2, a grievous vision is
declared unto me, the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously,
and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O media,
all the sign thereof have I made to cease. Sin deals treacherously
with people. Didn't it begin that way in the
garden? The serpent told Eve, you shall not surely die. Dealt
treacherously with her. She died. Sin promises pleasure
and joy and satisfaction. And it's all a lie. Sin does
not give anything it promises. The only thing sin gives is sorrow
followed by death and judgment. Instead of giving us something,
you don't sin to us. It deals treacherously. Actually,
it spoils us. It takes away Everything we have
and then kills us. And men see them. They do things
that their conscience tells them they ought not do. But they're
not instantly punished for it. So they think there's no consequences. And they just keep doing it.
It keeps getting worse and worse and worse and worse. And they
think, I'm prospering, everything's going wonderful. Until one day,
they meet God in judgment. And they realize, I've been dealt
with treacherously. They see they've been deceived.
Look at Romans chapter 7. The Apostle Paul said when he
was in false religion, sin deceived him. But it's what it does to
all men. Sin deceives us. In Romans 7 verse 8. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For
without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive, or I thought
I was alive, without the law once. But when the commandment
came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
And that's what sin is going to do to everyone that I see
outside of Christ. I see sin bowing people down
under a heavy burden of guilt and sorrow. The prophet says,
therefore, are my loins filled with pain. Pains have taken hold
upon me as the pangs of a woman that travaileth. I was bowed
down at the hearing of it. I was dismayed at the seeing
of it. Now, these pangs, these are not like the pains of a woman
who ends up giving birth to a healthy child. Now, there's some joy
in that, isn't there? This is going through the pain
to have a stillborn child. Because we can't produce life.
None of our labors will ever produce life. None of our labors
will produce a healthy, live baby. All of our labors, all
our labors can produce is death and sorrow. Then I see sin making
the world pant after a righteousness that they don't have and a righteousness
that they can't produce. Verse 4, My heart panteth. You know when you're thirsty,
you pant. And you're thirsty because there's
a lack of water inside you. Well, man's heart pants and thirsts
after righteousness because he doesn't have any. No righteousness
in himself. So they think, if I don't have
any, I must have to produce it. And they keep panting. And they
keep thirsting because they can't produce any righteousness no
matter what they do, just leaves them panting for righteousness.
Then I see sin making the world full of fear. Verse 4, my heart
panted, fearfulness affrighted me. The night of my pleasure
hath he turned into fear unto me. Now this verse literally
came to pass the night that Belshazzar had that party. Remember he had
the vessels of the temple brought in, they're drinking wine and
out of them have a big party. And that hand appeared and that
finger wrote on the wall, Thou art weighed in the balance and
found wanting. And old Belshazzar's knees literally
knocked together in fear and trembling. Well, that's a picture
of men who are full of fear because of sin. You know, Adam never
feared. Never. I mean, he was with the
lions and the tigers and the snakes and all these. He never
feared until the moment he sinned. That moment he began to fear,
and he feared constantly from then on. He lived and died in
fear. And all men live just like Adam
lived. We live with the nature he gave
us. A nature that's full of fear. There's a fear of sickness. We
hear about this Ebola and think, oh my, I don't want to get sick. We're full of fear. We're fear
of being left alone. We're fear of famine. Tommy's going to crash and bread's
going to cost $15 a loaf, I'm going to starve. We fear the
loss of loved ones. We fear death. We fear the judgment. We're just full of fears. And
if that's not enough, we'll make some up. Just lie awake at night.
You'll make up something to fear. All that put together is bondage
to sin. It's the bondage of trying to
get something that sin cannot provide. It's the bondage of
being bowed down under a heavy burden of guilt and sin. It's
the bondage of trying to produce a righteousness that I don't
have and that I cannot produce. And it's the bondage of fear.
This is what all men live with. That's a pretty bleak outlook,
isn't it? Don't you see anything else? Yeah, I do. Yes, I do. I see the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the remedy for all that bondage to sin. Look at verse 7. This
watchman, he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot
of asses and a chariot of camels, and he hearkened diligently with
much heed. Now these chariots, that's what
the king wrote in. You know the first time the word
chariot is in Scripture? The first time. It's after Joseph
interpreted the dream of the Pharaoh. And he told him there's
going to be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. And
Pharaoh made Joseph king over Egypt, over all the world, second
in command only to Pharaoh. The only man who had rule over
Joseph was Pharaoh. And he made Joseph ride in the
chariot. That's the first time the word
chariot is used in Scripture. Joseph is a type of Christ. He
rode in the chariot because he's king. And as king, what would
Joseph do? Oh, I know he fed the world. But Joseph did something very
specific as king. He's a type of Christ. He gave
his brethren what they could not get for themselves. He gave
his brethren what they couldn't grow for themselves. He gave
them food. He gave them shelter. He gave
them houses. He gave them the best of the
land. Joseph would give his brethren everything freely. Not because
they earned it. Because he loved them. And Joseph
would calm the fears of his brothers. Oh, after Jacob died, they thought,
oh, he's going to get us now. He'd just been, you know, acting
nice because of our father. But now that Jacob's gone, we've
got no protector. He's going to get us. Joseph
wept when they said, he said, don't fear. I love you. I'm going to take care of you.
I'm going to take care of you and your little ones. There's
no fear in love. And that's exactly what Christ
does for his people. He sets his people free from
the burden of sin by making himself to be sin for them. Look at the
end of verse 3. You know, when you're under a
great burden, we sigh and we grunt and we groan because the
burden is so heavy. Christ came, he took that burden
of sin off his people. Look at the end of verse 2. He
says, all the sighing thereof have I made to cease. He made
it cease because he lifted the burden from off the backs of
his people. He set his people free from the
curse of sin by being made a curse for them. He set his people free
from hungering and thirsting after righteousness because he
made us the righteousness of God in him. And Christ sets his
people free from all fear. A believer doesn't have to fear
sickness. Christ has given us his health.
I know this body is going to get sick. This winter we're all
going to be snotting around and just, you know, the body gets
sick. And something eventually is going to kill this body. And
that's just fine. You know, the death of this body,
it's not death. The death of this body is the
setting free of life that God's put in it. When God kills this
body, all He's done is made us plum healthy. Our sister, Mary
Bell, does not have to fear sickness. Plum healthy. Oh, she's so healthy. You don't have to fear sickness.
A believer doesn't have to fear being left alone. Maybe that's
the greatest fear of most human beings. Being left alone. Believer, don't fear that. Christ
Himself said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. How can
you be alone if He's with you? Our brother Donnie Bell is not
alone. The Lord's with me. A believer doesn't have to fear
famine. Christ is our bread of life. Christ is that well of
living water that will never run dry. David said, I've never
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. You're
not going to go without spiritual bread, and I doubt very seriously
you'll go too hungry. A believer doesn't have to fear
death. Because Christ died for us. A believer doesn't have to
fear judgment because Christ has already been judged in our
place. He suffered everything that we deserve and there is
no condemnation in Him. Now what are these chariots talking
about? These chariots that the watchman sees are the kings who
are going to come and set Israel free from Assyrian rule. He sees
a chariot pulled by asses. You know who that is? It's the
Persians. The Persians pulled their chariots
with asses. That's King Cyrus, the Persian.
And the chariot pulled by camels? It's the Medes. That's how the
Medes pulled their camels. That's King Darius. Cyrus and
Darius are going to come to destroy Babylon and set Israel free.
And those kings are coming as pictures of Christ, the King
of kings who sets spiritual Israel free from all bondage to sin. I see false prophets making the
situation worse and profiting by it. Verse 5, prepare the table,
watch in the watchtower, eat, drink, arise, ye princes, and
anoint the shield. Now, these false prophets, they're
not working. They're having a party. They
claim to be preachers. They claim to be watchmen, but
they're not faithful men. They're eating and drinking and
having a party instead of being faithful. and watching for danger
and warning people, doing what God told the watchman to do.
And this is their message, anoint the shield. Their message does
not go to Christ for mercy. Their message does not go to
Christ and hide in Him. No, their message is polish up
your shield. Get your weapons ready for battle.
Anointing means anointing it with oil. Polish it up and get
your weapons ready for battle and go fight yourself. Their
message is anoint the shield. Save yourself by your own works.
God helps those who help themselves. And while you're at it, bring
me some food and drink." That's their message. Their message
is sending men and women to hell. They put people under the burden
of false religion for their own gain. And in doing so, they lie
to people and send them to hell. The world is not better off for
these men being in it. They're not. protectors of morality, making
people act better. The world is not better off because
of these men. They are a blight on God's creation,
spreading sin and unrighteousness in the name of religion. And
they're doing it by not preaching Christ alone. They're idolaters. Anything other than Christ alone
is an idol. They're idolaters filling the
world with idolatry. That's all they're doing. Frank,
that's an awful bleak outlook. Don't you see anything else?
Yeah, I do. God, in his mercy, has set up
some watchmen, and he's made them faithful. Verse 6, For thus
hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, and let him declare
what he seeth. In verse 8, he said, I stand
continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set
in my ward whole nights, all the night long. God made that
man faithful. God's watchman will be faithful
to the cause of Christ. He'll be faithful to the good
of your soul. He'll pray for you. He'll watch
for you. He'll preach Christ to you. He will faithfully and
diligently search out Christ in the Word. And then he will
faithfully, fully declare Christ to you. God's watchman will faithfully
declare the whole counsel of God. They will faithfully declare
everything that they see and heard from God. They won't hold
anything back. And they will preach to you God's
message, not their own interpretation of it, not their take on it.
They're not trying to adapt it to fit your life. They will faithfully
declare to you God's message. If you look in John chapter three,
this is what our Lord, the prince of preachers himself did. I wish we all followed his example.
In Acts 3, verse 11, it's our Lord talking to Nicodemus. And he says, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that
we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. Look down at
verse 32. And what he has seen and heard,
that he testifies. And no man receiveth his testimony. Our Lord, the prince of preachers,
only preached what he had seen and what he had heard." What
had he seen and what he had heard? Everything. It was everything
concerning him. Look in Acts chapter 4. And all
of God's preachers, all of his watchmen do the same thing. In Acts chapter 4 verse 18. And they called them and commanded
them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But
Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right
in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God,
judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard." We must preach what we have seen
and heard. We must preach God's message
no matter what it costs. Those men are watchmen that God
made faithful. God's watchmen see the world
as it is, and they see salvation as it is, and they're not afraid
to declare it. And I understand most men will
not receive our testimony. As a matter of fact, nobody will,
apart from God's grace. God's got to give them grace,
got to give them faith to believe. But somebody is going to believe. Somebody will. Now, if you look
back in our text, Isaiah 21, verse 11, I'll show you who it
is. It's sinners. God's elect who are sinners believe
the message of God's watchman. The burden of Duma. He called
to me out of seer. Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night? What this man is saying is it's
dark now. It's dark. Why is it so dark? How long will it be dark? I can't
see anything. Will it be dark forever? Can
you tell me what's going on? Verse 12 is the answer. The watchman
said, the morning cometh, and also the night. If you inquire,
inquire ye, return, come. The watchman says, yes, it is
dark now. When God found you, you were
in darkness of sin and unbelief. It's dark now, but light's coming. The S.O.N. is rising with healing
in his wings, and all is darkness without end. Light's coming. Now come with me. Let's go inquire
of him. Come, let's go ask him and beg
him for mercy. Let's go seek him. And he repeats
his answer because it's urgent. Light's coming, but also darkness. Light's coming, but it's not
going to last forever. The day of grace is coming, but
it won't last forever. This is an urgent message. You
come to Christ now. Right now, you come to Christ
because there's no time to spare. And God's elect hear that message,
and they believe it, and they receive it as good news. You
know why they receive that as good news? Because God showed
them they're sinners. This is good news to sinners. Now, you know who asked this
question? This burden of Duma. That is the name of one of Ishmael's
sons. I think it's the sixth son of
Ishmael. This man is an Ishmaelite. He's an alien from the commonwealth
of Israel. Strangers from the covenants
of promise. But he crossed paths with the
watchman who told him, light's coming. Now you come to Christ.
And all this idolatry, the false prophets. This man, an Ishmaelite. He's raised in idolatry. The
idolatry of these false prophets, it seems like it has an awful
stronghold right now, but they are crushed when the message
of Christ comes in power. Verse 9, And behold, here cometh
the chariot of men with a couple of horsemen. And he answered
and said, Babylon is fallen, and all the graven images of
her gods he hath broken unto the ground. Yes, I see a world
full of sin and idolatry that is being spread by these false
prophets. But I see Christ, the Son of
Righteousness, rising with healing in His wings and crushing the
power of this idolatry. And last, I see Satan as a roaring
lion seeking who he may devour. Verse 8, And this watchman cried,
A lion! Now can you imagine the fear
that was in a town in those days when a watchman would cry, I
see a lion. People were outside the city
walls working in their fields and doing whatever it is that
they did. And they heard that watchman cry, I see a lion. They
grabbed everything, all their people most precious to them,
their children, their wife, and they ran for cover. They get
inside the wall of that city, get in their house, lock the
doors, close the windows, a lion's coming. I don't have any weapon
that can stand up to a lion. Well, that's Satan. I see him. Going about as a lion seeking
his prey. And I don't care what these false
prophets tell you. You can't stand up to him. I
can't either. They tell you, just tell Satan,
just go on back to hell. My advice is don't. My advice
is what the angel said. God deal with you. We don't want
anything to do with this lion. There's no place in this world
that Satan can't break through and destroy us if God will let
him put his finger upon us. powerless against him. That's
a mighty bleak outlook. Seems like that leaves me living
in more fear, don't you? Do you see anything else? Yeah,
I do. I see a lion. Bob, I see another
lion. I see the lion of the tribe of
Judah. He's come to crush Satan's head. The king of kings. The lion is
the king of the jungle. Here's the king of the universe.
The king has come. And He is the one place that
we can hide from Satan in safety, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion
of the tribe of Judah. So what does the watchman see?
I see sin. I see the load, the awful load
of sin that brings death. But I also see Christ who bore
the sin of His people away and gives them life in Him. I see
the sorrow of sin. But I also see Christ who comes
and turns our sorrow into joy. I see men in bondage to sin,
bondage to darkness and unbelief. But I see Christ who comes and
sets His people free to serve Him. I see a world of darkness. I saw a thing on the History
Channel the other day about the Dark Ages, 600 years of the Dark
Ages. We've got more technology. different
things, you know, than what they did. But the world today is just
as dark as it was then. It really is. Darkness of unbelief
and idolatry and sin. But I also see Christ who is
the light of the world. I see a world full of famine. Spiritual famine. I see a famine
of bread in our day. But I also see Christ the bread
of life. He's not left himself without
a witness. He's not left his people starving. He is their all. And I see a
world full of death, death by sin. But I see Christ who gives
eternal life. And I see Satan. He's real. He's very real. I want nothing
to do with him, but he's real. But I want you to remember this.
He's not in control of this thing. I know that scripture calls him
the prince of the power of the earth. Don't think that somehow
he's got complete sovereign rule over this earth. No, he does
not. Satan's real and his power is
real. The things he can do are real.
But I also see Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who has
conquered all. He crushed Satan's head and he
is the one who rules over all. This thing's just fine. I know
the world is bleak, full of sin and darkness and sorrow and bondage
and famine and death, but it's just fine. The King's on the
throne. The King is on the throne. Well,
I hope that'll be a blessing to you. Let's bow together in
prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for the good news of the gospel. I would thank you in your mercy
and grace, you've given your people eyes to see this world
as it really is, a place that we don't want to stay for very
long. But as long as you have us stay, Father, we pray that
you'd make us faithful, be faithful watchmen to declare the truth
of this world. And Father, give us the wisdom
not to hang too tightly onto it. but to look to Christ. He is the remedy for all the
loss and the shame and the sin and the nakedness of this world.
And let us cling to Him. Let us preach Him. Let us worship
Him. And in our daily lives, let us declare Him by a life
that's lived by faith, following Him. Father, how we thank You
for the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that for his sake, for
the glory of his name, that you'd cause your word to go forth in
power tonight, to comfort the hearts of your people and to
draw us closer to Christ and to reveal Christ to us. It's
in his precious name we pray and give thanks.